Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 8, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
When you print a document, you may be surprised to find out that the placement of some text or graphic on the screen isn't exactly where you want it. For instance, you might have a one-inch left margin and you discover that on the printed page the margin isn't precisely at one inch from the edge of the paper.
Before assuming that Word has gone haywire, you'll want to determine if the problem has to do with your printer or not. Printers are mechanical beasts, and as they grab paper and move it through the printer, the paper can "drift" to the left or right (or up or down) relative to the mechanism that places the actual output on the paper. This can cause your margins to appear incorrect or the placement of other items incorrect.
To check out how much drift there is in your printer, try these general steps:
You should note that every printer is different, and therefore every printer will have different amounts of drift. The above steps will tell you the drift in the single printer on which you perform the steps; it won't necessarily tell you the drift in a different printer, even if the other printer is the same model.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7332) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Discovering Printer Drift.
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2015-05-30 07:59:48
Brother Jeremy, CSJW
Unfortunately, most home and office quality duplex printers, such as the Brother HL-5340D, which we use here at the monastery, simply are not capable of accurately aligning pages for duplex. This is do to their design. The printer does not fully eject a sheet of paper before "pulling it" back through the printer for the reverse side.
We have tried setting different margins for odd and even pages, but the best results comes from printing simplex rather than duplex.
2015-05-30 06:55:00
George Bell
I'd like to see similar advice for duplex printing. For example, set up a document of 2 pages, margins equal all round, and a border all round. Now print duplex. Are the borders exactly back to back, and if not, how does one adjust them to be so>
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